The Watchmaker

I fell in love with my shadow and its once upon a time
A dashing prince I’d have to hold and keep as mine
Upon a white stallion, he offered that away we’d ride
Into happily forever after, together to thrive and abide

And through the forest and over the knell and the dell
My soul soared with pride when I heard the legend they would tell
How fair I was, much fairer than them all
Yet in murky waters, my shadow would let this bone eventually slip and fall

In a reflecting glass, I beseeched and asked why me
How could I fall for stories of fantasy and make-belief
When behind smoking mirrors I watched as his nose grew and grew
Even as I asked the crystal ball, where did he go and what did he do

He wove tales of his feats, Tom Thumb so big and strong
He was little Jack that brought the mighty giant down
But in Sleepy Hollow the wind did whistle across the seven seas
While from aloft a magic carpet he swore on bended knees

On his lap, my shadow placed my cindered foot
And from his bag a golden slipper he removed and shook
But alas, though the shoe could no longer fit
For a prince, I’d ignore deception, lies and regret

A kiss from a frog woke me from my century old sleep
But he was no prince just a watchmaker with time to keep
The startled man caught me just before I once again fell
Into a deep, deep sleep and under the prince’s spell

The watchmaker was just a simple, ordinary man
No riches, no horse-drawn chariot, and very little time for charm
He didn’t tell stories nor did he relay his heroic deeds
He did not make promises nor paint pictures of make believe

He just offered his friendship and patiently waited for me
To open my eyes, to really see as far as I could see
How long I have wandered and really been lost
Following a trail of breadcrumbs hidden by Mr. Jack Frost

I watched as princes came and princes went
And many years of adventure would leave me empty and completely spent
Through them all the watchmaker stood silent, perhaps lulled by the tick-tock chime
Never asking more of me, but forever guarding time

Then one day late in autumn, he invited me down to a lake
And I gasped at the image that reflected at me and my soul ached
I had chased so hard and yet all I had ever caught was time
A once beautiful swan had sung and was now long passed her prime

I was nothing like the princess I had once vainly been
Quiet now, tarnished, but somehow I’d mellowed in
My thirst for adventure had been sated and had eventually waned
Yet I had wandered too far and could not find my way home again

But behind me in the deep and watery depths
The watchmaker revealed the love he guarded and had long secretly kept
There in his eyes was the sign I had always sought
“Time flies over us but leaves the shadow behind,” was etched and so well wrought.